22-year-old college student blows her $90,000 college fund and blames her parents

[KamaAina]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/a-college-student-blows-inheritance-bert-show-205833329.html

Atlanta radio show “The Bert Show” had a guest on this week who has managed to incite the rage of just about every millennial in the state of Georgia (and beyond, the show is syndicated in 11 states).

The woman, a 22-year-old college junior named Kim, who did not give her last name on air and was allowed to use a voice disguiser to even further shield her identity, came to the three hosts with a confession: in just short three years she had managed to blow through a $90,000 college fund left to her by her grandparents. Kim has one year left of school and no way to cover her remaining $20,000 tuition balance.

The show’s hosts try to give Kim the benefit of the doubt. She’s come to them (for some untold reason — perhaps a financial aid officer would have been a wiser choice) in a time of great need and they at least want to try to help her.

But what followed has to be one of the most painful interviews that has ever been aired on national radio. Kim manages to personify just about every parent’s worst nightmare — an entitled 20-something who asks for handouts rather than face the very real financial challenges of young adulthood. You can listen to the full interview online at TheBertShow.com, but we’ve shared the highlights of Kim’s cringe-inducing description of her predicament below.

[Oneironaut]

2. I bet this is fake. Seems like trolling for attention / anger.

I wouldn't believe this even if this person was confirmed to be real. Add the fact that a radio station was involved, and this one has jumped off the plausibility ledge.

[dballance]

12. I believe you are not correct

This sort of attitude is far too common these days.

[vinny9698]

19. I got $48,000 insurance settlement and spent it in less then 6 months.

Newer Car $23k
New HV/AC $12k
Painting outside of house $2k
New stove, frig, freezer, $2k
New Gamer PC for kids $2k
Total for above $41k
The other $6k misc, clothes, groceries, furniture, used computers,
All above investments but all money gone

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

43. Not all investments, but a lot of durable goods in that list.

You probably chopped a lot off your monthly electric bill with some of those upgrades, as well as off your gasoline bill. With the same, I might have looked into paying off the rest of my mortgage and getting a good solar setup. That would whack about $700 a month off of my bills.

[karynnj]

20. I agree with you - there are many who don't start with $90,000

This girl had a fund with $90,000 left by her grandmother. I would guess that she and her parents knew the annual cost of tuition and knew that the last year would have to be paid out of pocket. One would think that she would have filled out the FASFA forms. Assuming her parents have little in the way of assets and income (in spite of one of them having a mother who could leave the girl $90,000), she would be eligible for loans, grants and work study. In addition, she could have worked at least in the summers to minimize the amount she would have to borrow.

[jeff47]

31. She used some of the money to pay for a trip to Europe.

It's pretty clear she didn't calculate out any sort of budget.

[karynnj]

58. Right - and her parents, though they legally may not have been able to stop her,

obviously should have pointed out that she would be running into a financial problem.

[jeff47]

60. Yeah, but sometimes the kid has to "skin their knee" before they'll listen.

"No way mom!! I can totally fly!! Watch this!! Ow!!"

At least she's in a relatively minor crisis. She'll probably have to take a relatively small student loan to cover her last year.

[elehhhhna]

79. yep. if it's a UGMA acct the kid gets it all at 18

Also, loans will give the kid 5500/ year, any more if if the parents qualify for a PLUS loan, if th parents credit is bad she can borrow another 6 -7 k max.

Grandma should have made a trust with parents as trustees. But she didn't. In state tuition and housing is ~ 20 - 25 k

[HughBeaumont]

3. Siiiggghhh . . . .

. . . . I'm going to go with "Cool Story, Gurl".

I mean, I imagine this sort of nonsense happens, but the whole thing just sounds . . . scripted. Scripted to make millenials look bad, scripted to make students look bad, higher education look bad, scripted for the purpose of having yet another "entitlement" scapegoat for the hyper right wing to shit on.

And Yahoo Finance isn't exactly on the side of labor and quite often victim-blames its audience.

[demmiblue]

4. Didn't even bother to read the link. The real problem is tuition costs, not Kim. n/t

[Matrosov]

5. She had enough money to cover tuition

The problem was she decided to spend the money on other things, including a trip to Europe.

[Rebubula]

7. No...the problem is Kim

If you cannot go through college with 90k - you are overextending yourself (Princeton education on a U of MD budget) or a moron.

Tuition costs are out of control, but if you do not try to go to Standford etc- you can get a GREAT education for relatively inexpensive if you stay in state and public


EDIT - as with a poster below --- I agree, the money should have been controlled by parents....if I had 90k at that age....probably would have been dumb about it as well. Would not have gone on the radio and whined like a baby, but still would probably have wasted a good bit on fun times

[demmiblue]

8. No, no you can't.

Low income families/students cannot afford the cost of state schools without being burdened by extreme debt (even with scholarships). Finding a decent paying job upon graduation...

[Rebubula]

9. OK...fine

However, this person had 90k.

Rising tuition have sweet FA to do with her situation.

[kcr]

13. No, the problem is whoever thought it was a good idea to give that kind of money

to a 19 year old to manage by themselves. Whoever did that is an idiot. If this is even real.

[stevenleser]

27. Yep. Hard to imagine that going well. I actually think making it three years is pretty good for

someone so young.

[Maedhros]

28. My stepdaughter at 19 would have had no problem managing that money.

Not all young people are foolish to such an extent as Kim.

[stevenleser]

33. My eldest daughter would have done well too, she's almost scary responsible. But that isn't typical

at all.

[kcr]

38. Good for your daughter. I don't believe I said all.

But if that is true, she's exceptional. And even if my child were able, I still would't do it. They have enough to worry about. Even if a parent thinks their child is able, they don't know for sure how they'll react to the stress of college life. It's a stupid thing to do.

[Maedhros]

44. At eighteen, a child becomes an adult.

Let them live with the consequences of their actions.

[kcr]

53. If that's your parenting philosphy, hey. Whatever floats your boat.

But it doesn't seem very wise to spend all the time, effort and resources to raise a child only to abruptly cut it off at an arbitrary age like that all at once and risk screwing everything up. Seems like such a waste. "Well, they could have been a successful adult with a happy life if I'd continued to help them along a bIt, but hey! 18 is the legal age, hyup!"

[Maedhros]

68. I dislike how we, as a society, have started treating college students as if they are children.

I do agree with you that guidance is helpful, though. I'm being something of a devil's advocate here, and I apologize for that.

[cui bono]

85. I think the problem starts long before college.

This whole everyone gets a trophy thing and parents driving their kids to multiple activities all week long, including weekends. It sure wasn't like that when I was a kid. The kids having activities is great, but it seems like everything revolves around the kids these days and they are made to feel they deserve everything in life and they are not prepared for how things work in the real world.

[tblue37]

42. Have you ever read Samuel Butler's novel

The Way of ALL Flesh?

In it, the protagonist's aunt, who is concerned about the way his parents have raised him and the character flaws resulting from that upbringing, leaves him a hefty inheritance, but she arranges it so that he cannot receive it or even know about it until he is 28 years old.

He royally screws up for several years after reaching adulthood, partly in the way that young people often do, but also in much worse ways because he has been so badly raised by his parents, but then, after having made his worst mistakes already and learned from them, he receives his inheritance at 28, when he is finally mature enough to make good use of it rather than using it to finance his youthful stupidity.

[kcr]

55. I've not read it, but

it just makes the most sense no matter how one is raised, really. People don't just pop up fully formed like a cooked turkey at 18 no matter how mature they may be for their age. 18 is just the legal age of majority. I don't get parents who think that's the age to cut off all parental influence and support. That's madness.

[Person 2713]

63. Yes but when I was reading that book low info coworkers accused me of reading porn

One women asked me if it was juicy .

[mainer]

66. So it's her grandparents' fault for being so generous?

Generosity is THEIR fault?

[kcr]

74. Not necessarily

But the tone of the criticism against her is rather ridiculous. It isn't shocking that a 19 year old would mismanage money like that. It's like being shocked that an accountant would botch a brain surgery and calling him an idiot for not knowing how to perform one.

[demmiblue]

14. BTW, U of MD cost per year is $24,587.

Gee, so much cheaper.

https://www.admissions.umd.edu/costs/

[bluedigger]

21. That is all costs estimated, not just tuition, which is under $10k.

I could probably make it four years on the other $50k, definitely with part time and summer jobs.

[Monk06]

61. $60 K went to tuition in three years leaving 10K per year to live on. What's everyone yarping about

She's lucky she got through her third year.

[stevenleser]

6. The grandparents should have put the parents in charge of the fund. Obviously its the kids fault for

blowing through the money, but its entirely predictable. Put $90,000 in the hands of an 18-19 year old who has never managed money and over 95% of the time the outcome will not be good.

[Journeyman]

11. I know at that age I would have spent most of the money on fast women and raucous parties . . .

then probably wasted the rest foolishly.

[stevenleser]

34. ;-) +1 nt

[Igel]

23. Keep this in mind.

Because when you're 18 and given the student loan money, it's your money.

You can have it applied directly to your tuition/fees, but there's always more money for living expenses. You can apply for the maximum you can get and blow through it, reject part of it, or sequester what you can.

I applied for loans and got them when I was in grad school. Every year, every term. I ended up with $13k debt after 6 years, almost all of it from my first year when I was out of state. I got some dept. funded aid, but if you add up that $13k in loans and dept. aid there's a huge gap. Even my first year I worked 20 hours a week, and seldom worked less. I got the loans approved, but never used the full amount and often didn't bother to get them disbursed. They were there for emergencies; beer, restaurants, spring break, a car, trips home were not emergencies. Beans, cheese, the occasional package of hamburger meat or turkey on after-holiday special were fine ... for years. Broadcast tv on a 10-year-old set in a 480 sq ft 1-room apt. with a kitchen I could stand in (but not while holding that turkey--one or the other had to be outside the kitchen, and if the oven door or the fridge door was open I'd have to step out and take the turkey with me).

I was 30+. Those who were teens and in their early 20s? They get loan money, they take and spend loan money. Even if they don't need it.

[stevenleser]

26. Yep. And you can see why the loans are given out one semester at a time.

Even a fair amount of adults can't responsibly or at least can't wisely handle $90,000 given to them in a lump sum.

If this actually happened, I think its surprising that the girl lasted through her junior year. For a young kid, I think its not all that bad.

[jeff47]

32. Kids have to screw up sometime.

Now, it would have been better for the screw-up to be she can't buy the fancy new ______ she wanted at 16, but still better to fuck up now than to keep going on that course.

[Brickbat]

10. I'm sure she's a real person.

[HappyMe]

15. It was foolish to put her in charge of that much money.

However, it is Kim's fault for blowing it. Hard life lesson for her.

[bemildred]

16. Where is Geraldo when you really need him? nt

[Paladin]

17. I'm not listening to her tale of woe.

She had it better than the majority of college kids, and she threw it away. End of story, as far as I'm concerned.

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. The footnote to the story I wanna know....

what was she planning to major in?

Chances are high it was some feather light degree in Arts and Humanities, that does not pay off after graduating.

[Maedhros]

29. I'm of the opinion that the purpose of University education is to become educated, not trained.

So I don't look down on people who choose "feather light" degrees, because every discipline is challenging - not just Business Administration and Engineering.

[dixiegrrrrl]

40. By that standard, she has gotten her education already, then.

She learned finances, how to travel, and esp. limits.

[Maedhros]

46. Education comes from many sources, not just books and institutions.

My step son worked two jobs to save money for a solo excursion to Europe after he graduated. He just toured Auschwitz last week; I think he might still be in Poland but I'm not sure (he lost his smart phone so FB posts have been sparse).

He is learning much more on this trip than he would in an entire semester of college.

[HappyMe]

41. I agree to a certain extent.

Liberal arts degrees are a dime a dozen these days. Unless you have something else to bring to the table, it will be slim pickings for jobs.

I have a friend that is an accountant. He hired a young woman that didn't have any degree. She had worked full time at a bank and taken some business and accounting classes at the community college. She was hired because she had a good work record, and was obviously interested enough to spend her time learning about the field.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

48. But it takes a special type of ignorance to get into a mountain of debt

for a degree that won't prepare one to support oneself after graduation.

[Maedhros]

49. My degree is in Geology, with an advanced degree in High Temperature Geochemistry.

It did not prepare me for my career, fraud investigations for a financial institution, yet here I am.

An education teaches one to think critically, and that skill is applicable to any career.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

50. And I'm sure you had no intention of doing the work you are doing

when you got your degrees.

You are fortunate that you are an intelligent person who was able to parlay your degree into a career, but there are many other intelligent people who haven't succeeded in doing so.

And then there's the folks who know they will make a somewhat modest income as a teacher or social worker, for example, and still take out a mountain of debt...

[Maedhros]

67. Well, we need teachers and social workers.

The solution is to make it possible without subjecting the teachers and social workers to unsupportable debt.

We're taking baby steps here in Oregon:

http://www.katu.com/news/local/Gov-to-sign-bill-allowing-2-years-of-free-community-college-316144411.html

SALEM, Ore. -- Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill offering two years of free tuition at community colleges Friday morning.

The bill comes at a price tag of $10 million. The idea behind the bill was to encourage low-income students to go to school and get the skills for better-paying jobs.

To be eligible, you must have lived in Oregon for at least a year, graduated within six months and maintained a 2.5 GPA. You also have to apply for federal grants.

The tuition money does not cover books, food, supplies or housing.

It won't go into law until next fall.

Governor Brown is awesome.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

70. Yes, we do.

But no one needs a degree from Columbia and massive amounts of debt to teach first grade.

My kids had two options: get large four year scholarships or attend junior college first.

Two got very large scholarships, while two attended junior college first. We refused to sign the FASFA forms until they were juniors, had earned money and saved, and were mature enough to understand that they should graduate in two years.

Yep. We're mean parents, and my kids can't wait to be mean parents to their kids, too, after watching their friends struggle with their large student loans.

Like my son told me, "You were the meanest parents when I was a freshman. By senior year you were ok, but the day I started paying back my student loan, you were goddamn brilliant!"

I'm proud to say that he was the first of his friends to buy a house.

[Maedhros]

71. Your finances, your call. :)

Bottom line, we need publicly-financed higher education.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

75. I support tax-payer funded junior college and technical college for all

Make that STATE technical colleges and trade schools - not the corporations!

And pell grants for lower and middle class students should be increased to $15,000 a year for two years so students can complete their educations at four year universities without getting into a draconian amount of debt.

And I'd like to see a dramatic increase in the number academic scholarships based on merit so our best and brightest can afford college, too, despite their families making "too much" money.

I cannot support total financing of public higher education, since that tends to lead to rationing, tracking of students, and other onerous outcomes. Besides, I don't think it's wrong for students to have to invest in their own educations.

[elehhhhna]

80. yep. my kids a 4th yr theatre major

She's an amazing actress, the awards and etc indicate that's not just "mommy bias". If she cant make a living acting or stage managing, she'll make a ton of money in sales. Like me.

[Shrike47]

59. I have a B.A. in History, one of those 'worthless' degrees. Made a pretty good living as a lawyer.

I think of college as a place to get an education, not a commercial license.

[dixiegrrrrl]

72. Would have answered you sooner,

but it took awhile to get my foot out of my mouth....

What I said was not what I meant...
the young lady strikes me as someone who will be better focused on a career goal when she is older and wiser.
And sounds like she is getting wiser by the minute as life educates her.

[Shrike47]

76. Hey, thanks. My trip through educationland was damned strange and I wasn't offended.

I loved History and I loved Law but I'm kinda weird. Very few people in my class in law school could grasp how happy I was to be there. Anyway, I went to college because one did. It wasn't a conscious choice. I went to law school because my husband wanted to go to law school. We both went. We both practiced law, but law school killed the marriage.

[dixiegrrrrl]

84. Same here.

I went to college on my own, divorced, 2 toddlers, no car, and desperate to get an education.
Back then loans were hard to get, but grants and work study was available, so I worked and studied and raised the kids
and tried to sleep on the weekends. Had to keep up a 3.8 in order to qualify for grants each quarter.
Good news was that there were a LOT of much younger students who were happy to get Cs and low Bs, so grading on the curve was to my advantage.


I was so amazed that the campus had FIVE libraries! God, I read every book I could get my hands on.

[Igel]

25. Her story is extreme.

That makes it quantitatively different.

It's not qualitatively different from a lot of kids' stories. Most could cut their student loan debt by many thousands of dollars by just not accepting every dime they're offered and not spending every dime they're disbursed.

It doesn't matter what your background. I've known kids from disadvantaged backgrounds who boasted they'd be spending some loan money on new clothes, nice apt.--they were away from home and could afford it for the first time. I've known kids from advantaged backgrounds who merely assumed that restaurants, movies, and weekend trips, part of their lifestyle growing up, was their birthright.

Nobody's asking anybody to feel sorry for this kid, real or not. But it is instructive and there's a lesson to be learned.

[Yo_Mama]

39. She didn't LOSE her education. She just has to get a loan for the last year

And getting a loan for the last year without the additional years of accrued interest is not that big a deal. She'll still graduate without much debt, compared to most students.

And she's better off getting a job and learning something about budgeting and work habits.

[Warren DeMontague]

18. Europe? ....EUROPE?

Fuck that, in my day we would have done something responsible with that money, like spend it on tequila and cocaine.

[DFW]

36. Europe must sound so far away

Here's a funny one:

Our girls were born and raised in Europe (Germany), lived there all their lives until age 16, speak German as their native language. Both went to college in the USA, but one has now returned and lives in Frankfurt. The younger one, while going to college in Washington, DC, wanted to spend one semester of her junior year in France. Her college sent me a mountain of paperwork to authorize it, and one of the questions was "Do you hereby certify that you believe your child has the necessary independence and maturity to spend four months in Europe?"

I wrote back, "seeing as how my daughter had the necessary independence and maturity to be born in Europe and live most of her life there, I hereby certify my belief that she has the necessary independence and maturity to come home for a semester."

To their credit, the school program wrote back to me apologizing for going over her application too quickly, and not taking the time to go over her personal information, such as where she was born and raised, or the fact that she was a German citizen. Her application was granted.

[B2G]

24. Poor pretty pretty princess. NT

[JI7]

30. So she will only have about 20k debt

A part time job while still going to school could cut that to about 15k or even less.

[taught_me_patience]

35. She should apply for a Federal Stafford

She'll only have 20k to pay back, which is no big deal once she's working. This is a great lesson learned for her.

[TexasBushwhacker]

37. My 20 year old niece Nicole was left $42K by NY mother

because her father, my brother, is a jerk. My mom made my other brother the custodian of the account. Nicole has to go through him to get her money. She is attending community college and working part time. She takes as little as she can from the trust, and that's her choice. Smart girl.

[elehhhhna]

81. smart grandma.

[TexasBushwhacker]

82. She knew that was the only way she could go to college

without a lot of debt. Her father hasn't had a relationship with her since she was 8, his choice. Her mother had 3 kids by 3 fathers and 13 abortions. I'm hoping Nicole is smart about birth control too.

[olddots]

45. too close to home for me to comment

[Liberal_in_LA]

47. I am not sure how good I would have handled money at age 22

[Phentex]

56. I was great at it!

cause I didn't have any.

In all seriousness, I was on my own, worked and scraped pennies. When you have no family to fall back on, you learn for yourself.

[jeff47]

62. I would have spent it faster than a fire could have consumed it.

Fortunately, I'm no longer as dumb as I was.

[Liberal_in_LA]

73. lol.

[Warpy]

51. Most college aged kids can't manage money for shit.

I'm sure she frittered it all away and has very little to show for it. Now she'll have to go into debt like everybody else to finish that last year instead of getting a free ride.

It's going to be a tough lesson. It looks like she has no clue what to do right now except panic.

[KamaAina]

52. That's what trust funds are for.

[Warpy]

54. $30,000 a year for tuition, books, incidentals and living expenses

really isn't that far out of line. Yes she could have done it for $20,000/year and lived on Top Ramen like everybody else, but she probably didn't know all her options.

She on the steep side of the learning curve in finding out what those options are.

[Adsos Letter]

69. The total yearly cost for my youngest daughter's university was a bit over $38,000

It was a private university in California, with no difference in tuition for resident or non-resident students. This is their 2013-14 breakdown:

Total Cost $38,313
In-State Tuition $27,972
Other Fees $1,131
Room and Board $7,500
Books and Supplies $1,710

We were extremely fortunate that she earned a scholarship which covered the tuition portion, leaving us with only her other expenses.

Higher education costs are through the roof.

[snot]

57. Why didn't her parents teach her how to take better care of herself?

[jeff47]

64. They might not have. They might have.

Sometimes, kids have to screw up to learn. At least her screwup is relatively painless - she'll probably have some relatively small student loans to cover her last year.

[NCjack]

65. Not a new story. I saw it when I was in university in the '60s,

and I suspect in centuries before then some young people in charge of their education money squandered it. Without committing to an objective to graduate, regardless of what you have to do, it will likely not happen. I knew students who had no financial reserves, but worked minimum wage jobs while carrying full loads in science, engineering or mathematics -- rented rooms from elderly home owners, or slept on a couch in the math department's ladies' restroom, in a sleeping bag in a chemistry lab, or inside a barrel (8-ft diameter X 10-ft high) mounted about 20 feet above ground and used to advertise root beer. I'm not suggesting that she do these extreme things, but when you really want an education and a degree, you will devise a plan to get it.

[Shrike47]

77. I can sympathize with her situation, but not blaming her parents.

Even at her age, she should see and have seen the financial reality of the situation before her fourth year. Even if she didn't, blaming someone else for her situation is not acceptable. Borrow the money for the fourth year and be glad your debt is as small as that.

[SheilaT]

78. Sounds as if she may have been left the money outright,

rather than in a 529 plan, or in a UGMA (Uniform Gift to Minors Act) account. It also matters which state she lives in, as some allow full access and control at age 18, others not until age 21.

We lived in Kansas, which is an age 21 access and control age, right next to Missouri which is age 18. My childrens' grandparents were very generous and gifted them with money, as well as set up a 529 account for each. My older son has always been very responsible and frugal. Younger son was far less so, especially growing up. By the time they were in their mid-teens we made sure they knew about the money, saw how much there was, participated in investment decisions, but could not have free access to the money.

I honestly think if younger son had been able to get and spend the money, much of it would have been squandered by the time he was 21. Instead, by that age he appreciated what he has, treats it as the irreplaceable nest egg it is. Recently when his car completely died and he needed a new one, he consulted with me and bought a good used car.

Had the money been left to Kim as a 529, she could only have used it for legitimate school expenses: tuition, room & board, books, fees, maybe a couple of other items. Not a trip to Europe.

I am very pleased that the parents are not willing to just give her more money.

A while back when I was attending my local junior college, a noticeable number of kids in the classroom had spent a year, maybe two, at a four-year school where they'd partied and done badly, and for every one the parents had said they weren't underwriting any more of that crap. Now the kids lived at home, and some of them had to demonstrated good grades before the parents would pay for the semester at the community college. All of those kids recognized that they'd blown it before, but were very glad of this second chance.

This young woman, while something of an extreme example, is one day going to be carefully explaining why, despite an income that puts her in the top 10 or 15 percent, cannot possibly afford to save a penny. And I see an awful lot of that out there. Most people live exactly at the edge of their income, often a bit beyond, and think getting a brand-new car every few years is simply the way you live. And owning the nicest possible home, with a mortgage payment that's 40% of their income is absolutely okay.

I do have some hope that this young lady will learn her lesson.

[mainer]

83. It's not her money mismanagement that irks me; it's her attitude

I can see how a kid might blow through the money through inexperience.

But now she's whining that her dad, who's worked many years, isn't handing over his retirement account to pay for her senior year. And the idea of her getting a job to pay for college is "just embarrassing."